Redbox and Verizon’s Netflix competitor goes into alpha test

Look out Netflix: Redbox Instant—out with the kiosks, in with the video stream.

Redbox and Verizon are planning to launch an internal alpha test of their new video streaming service, dubbed Redbox Instant, by Tuesday afternoon, according to Fast Company. Details are scant, but the alpha will definitely involve testing the partnership's streaming video services. It's a product combination that could prove iffy when it comes to net neutrality.

Redbox kiosks took the difficulty and exasperation of dealing with other human beings out of movie rentals. They grew in popularity even as traditional rental stores tanked or attempted to pivot their business, as with Blockbuster's own express kiosks. Streaming service Netflix Watch Instantly, on the other hand, has enjoyed a great deal of success by removing not just "other people" but also "places outside your house" from the equation. Now, Redbox and Verizon appear to want to follow suit.

Fast Company's Redbox Instant report suggests that physical DVD rentals may also play a role, a service limb that Netflix tried desperately to sever from its own body for a while. Redbox averaged 65 million monthly rentals last quarter, so it likely has a large base of discs to draw from. What it doesn't yet have is the infrastructure that allowed Netflix to be so timely with its deliveries, often getting customers their new movies within a day or two of disc returns.

One minor red flag on the Redbox/Verizon horizon is the issue of net neutrality. Verizon is also an Internet service provider with FiOS, and could, theoretically, favor the traffic of Redbox Instant while retarding that of competing services like Netflix. Comcast faced scrutiny in late 2010 and early 2011 for refusing to deliver Netflix traffic to its customers without special provisions. Later, Comcast introduced Xfinity TV, a video streaming service that enjoys a "separate service flow" from the rest of the Internet traffic it processes.

Subscription prices, dates, and details are in short supply, but those interested in staying in the loop can peruse Redbox Instant's webpage and sign up for updates.

The post office doesn't have to open your mail to 'prefer' traffic. In case you haven't noticed, for a long time now, they've had different tiers from same-day delivery all the way to bulk rate, and everything in between. I'm sure it is totally feasible for your ISP to prefer some packets over others without analyzing what's inside them (if they even care).

Point conceded on the tiered content push, but that expedited shipping is not based upon a package originating at my local post office branch, but rather how much whomever ships the package (say, a TV show in our analogue) pays the postal service to get it to me. In no case is the content of the package, or it's originator, ever considered for how quickly to deliver the item in question.

As for an ISP to analyze (and throttle or preferably pipe) a packet, it doesn't have many alternatives. It can look at the originator (and charge the customer or originator for "preferred streaming treatment"), it can look at the packet, or it can look at the destination for the same "preferred customer option."

As a cable exec, I'd go for Option 1 and 3, at the same time. And I'd still be pushing my own content as much as I could as a "higher quality alternative" As a consumer, I vote for none of the above. I have this crazy notion about the fox guarding the hen house.

Duckies

3 posts | registered Jul 24, 2012

Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston